IMO Isn't calling Greendale "an album" a bit like calling the Magic Flute or Fidelio "an album"? It's a pretty unique work from a unique artist with a lot to say about life/art. The fact that some call the music "repetitive" is a bit like saying that recitativo in an opera is formless and pointless or a raga has no chorus. It may not be to everyone's taste but it is part of the whole, the "vocabulary" of what he is doing, and he is saying something by doing it. For "popular" music, Greendale is a pretty high point of originality and creativity. The music is a narration of a complete story so it is "right" in my opinion that the music is linked and interlaced. I don't listen to it to tap my toes...
Good point! I'm baffled by it too. In whatever format it's coming it's basically Greendale performed live, nothing more, nothing less, which from reading posts here over the years I've been led to believe I was one of the few people who liked it back when it came out. I stress I liked it, not that I still like it now. I got caught up in the hype admittedly as it was probably his best album since Sleeps With Angels at the time? Whatever it was I don't feel it holds up too well.
Well, I guess. What we are left with nevertheless is incredibly dull music. Austin Chronicle put it better than I could. "Who cares about some Sixties-loving environmentalist fable when the entire 78-minute musical backing plods along dumbly like a mule pulling a coffin through mud? Neil Young's Crazy Horse cohorts, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina, hoof a dead-weight beat that never wavers above the flat line of the bosses' rigor mortis guitar. Unlistenable, grade-A manure." But I take the point... if you want to see it as some performance art experiment. Sure.
I think it holds a special place in Neil's heart, and he was able to get a lot of mileage out of it (tours, album, movie etc). Have to admit though, if forced to choose between the album, the solo Euro gigs he did in 2003 before the album's release, or the CH shows, I'll choose the Euro gigs every day of the week.
I don't know about his heart but it definitely sounds like it holds a special place in his bank balance! Is it from the Euro acoustic shows that the concert film on the DVD packaged with the original CD, was compiled from? If so, I see your point. I always thought it was a slightly easier listen (aided no doubt by the video content) than the CD. I presume Return To... is a live version with CH in different formats with a filmed "stage show". I presume it's not a conventional cinematic experience filmed in different locations with professional actors acting in traditional "movie roles" or anything like that?
For all you people tripping over yourselves to say how bad Greendale is remember that it was an easy winner in a recent poll on here to pick your favourite Neil album of that decade. It got my vote but must admit surprise at how popular it was.
Greendale is a powerful album for people who can relate to one or more of the many characters or scenarios that we encounter over its ten songs. Neil, of course, can relate to all of them. Not just youthful activist Sun Green or grumpy seen-it-all Grandpa, but also Jed and Carmichael's widow. Tonight's The Night was an album of grieving, and much of Greendale is, too. All the classic Neil Young themes are here, they are just disguised in a new costume. So if you are one of the Sun Greens of this world, or a Grandpa, or...etc. Then you can find yourself in these songs, you can feel the characters emotions. And maybe even learn something about yourself. This is not a political or environmental album, as people who haven't listened to it are fond of calling it. It's an album about people. And people are complex. So it takes a while for a great album like this to sink in, for all the layers to reveal themselves. Mostly when fans judge Neil's 21st Century albums, what they are really saying is "does it sound like something he would have made in the seventies?". Because that's what we associate with greatness. Fair enough, I suppose. Well, Greendale sounds nothing like those albums. But it is every bit as good. I mentioned recently that Colorado might not be the quintessential Crazy Horse album, despite being a good listen. But Greendale might well be the quintessential Neil Young album. It is idiosyncratic, creative, home-grown, cinematic, and above all, full of soul. The busting-out-of-jail shriek of harmonica that announces Sun Green's coming of age in the penultimate track is by itself worth the price of admission. Without fail, it sends a shiver down my spine.
I don't know where people are stressing how bad it is here but I'm also surprised by the poll vote if correct. I would have thought Prairie Wind era or CD2 or Le Noise would easily eclipse it. The song writing was better over those releases but never under estimate fans of the "plodding Horse".
Compared to a rich album like Greendale, Le Noise is (mostly) like a plate of uncooked baked beans given a fancy name in a posh restaurant.
Austin Chronicle really DOES get the Horse. Love that description above. Unfortunately they seem to be saying that's a negative thing? I mean it's The Horse, dude.
Those might actually be his two most boring albums of the last 20 years. For me anyway. Not that I don't see the appeal but I think the songwriting is less interesting despite there being a few great songs.
The reason Crazy Horse are so loved is not because they plod, but because they gallop. The thing is, there is a certain amount of plodding in between the galloping. It's part of the charm.
I think I half agree with you. I've never been able to get into Prairie Wind. I'm not sure what it is, but it doesn't really take off for me. I think there is a fantastic half album (or maybe 2/3) worth of material on CD2, but the rest is quite forgettable. Still, though, I reach for this album a fair bit.
I think Prairie Wind material works much better in the live concert film "Heart Of Gold". As for CD2 it's probably my favourite NY album since Sleeps With Angels and some of the material is my favourite material of his since the 70s. I was similar to you in as much as I thought some of it was "forgettable" and minor but as I persevered with it over time it kind of came together as a whole album with a strong theme. Even though it's culled from multiple sources it works far better as an album than it has any right to. I even like and rate quite highly now all those songs previously thought of as "forgettable".
Look at how well Greendale has held up as an artistic statement - it is about all the issues tearing the country apart today, and it is 17 years old! He's dealing with the environment, drug wars, policing, the government, corporate malfeasance, and he managed to tie it into a narrative involving this family with characters that are all a part of him. Even the devil shows up! As for the music,I think if you crank up Sun Green and Be the Rain, those may be two of crazy horse's finest moments. That jam on Sun Green! You get full on sneering angry Neil, with this demented, noisy blues guitar thing. It's a totally unique moment in the catalog! "Hey Mr. Clean - You're dirty now too" And we haven't even discussed "Bandit"! This may be sacrilege to some, but I'm on board with calling Greendale Neil's masterpiece. It takes all the elements he has had from his entire body of work, and puts it all together. It's haunted, it doesn't entirely make sense, it's stoned, technically flawed, improperly recorded and performed, you're not sure if it's stupid or genius. But there is something in its soul that keeps drawing you back to it. Just like I can feel the gun in my hand when I hear Powderfinger, or feel the waves swaying the boat on Cortez, I'm right there with Sun Green on the Eagle yelling at Powerco, Grandpa in the front yard yelling at the reporter about my right to be anonymous, and I'm at carmichael's funeral. It's perfect. It may not be my favorite MUSIC(sitting/driving/cleaning the house, singing, enjoying being alive) to listen to from Neil, but I think this is the point he finally made it all work in a unified piece.
I guess it all depends on what we consider a professional recording. For me, either multitrack or soundboard. Audience tapes can be surprisingly good. I’ve heard a few, from other bands, which could almost be mistaken for soundboards.
Re: Greendale Ok. I know it tells an important story blah blah blah blah... I think it's great that he wrote a book and made a movie. But a record??? If the story is so much more important than the music per se, then why make an album? See, I'm not criticising the story, which is pretty well written, but a record must contain music.
I stopped giving a **** about other people not liking "Greendale" a long time ago. It's one of my favorite Neil albums period, and along with "Psychedelic Pill" is the high point in the last 25 years of his career for me.
I think all Neil's doing here is keeping a cause thats near and dear to him and his wife, in the spotlight. He releases this and he gets to talk about enviromental issues in the guise of his music, and what he tried to do here creatively. And as Tampa Rob insightfully noted, some of those issues in Greendale, beyond the call for environmental activism, resonate in today's headlines. I think Rob even missed noting Neil's criticism of the media, its ubiquitous intrusiveness on daily life that still rages on pretty much unchecked. While I think pieces of Greendale musically are pretty good, and the presentation of the album live was ambitious, if not amateurish. At the time I gave Shakey a lot of credit for trying something different. Not to mention it was a pretty sly way for Neil to "rant" about his favorite nemesis, as well as advocate for social action in front of paying audiences. Anyhow, while this isnt really what I was expecting, nor am I planning on buying it, Ill take it over a super deluxe release of Fork In The Road...
